2 felix FRIDAY 29 JANUARY 2010

Technology Editor Samuel Gibbs

TECHNOLOGY technology.felix@imperial.ac.uk

Big Brother Internet Same but now

Feroz Salam takes a look at the global state of internet censorship
200% bigger
C
hina and Google have begun
squaring off in what is bound Samuel Gibbs Technology Editor
to be a protracted political and
legal battle that might take years to set-

tle. Yet whatever the outcome, the fu-
rore over China’s attempts to infiltrate
Google has kicked up an issue which
has been brewing for many years now
– the effects of internet censorship. I
spent the majority of my childhood in
Saudi Arabia, where the state of the
internet is markedly different from
the rest of the world. Not only are the
standard ‘morally corrupting’ websites
blocked, but so are most websites that
we take for granted here in the UK,
such as Facebook and Myspace - the
latter remained blocked when I last left
the country in 2007.
As we enter a decade where perpet-
ual internet connectivity isn’t as much
a luxury but a necessity and access to
the internet is being legally defined as a
human right in a handful of countries,
the extent of global internet censorship
is rather surprising. Most governments
maintain some form of filtering; even in
the UK all ISPs are required to monitor
traffic for suspected child pornogra-
phy. Yet a handful of governments take
this much further, blocking access to a
wide variety of websites, justifying the
censorship as vital to their national or
religious interests. The culprits tend to
be monarchies, pseudo-democracies
and the handful of communist nations
that still remain - countries that have a
lot to lose by allowing citizens free ac-
cess to view and transfer information.
Of course maintaining censorship
incurs quite a hefty economic cost as
well as deterring otherwise profitable
foreign investment projects. To put
the task of internet censorship into
perspective, one need only consider
the fact that China has 300 million in-
ternet users, about the same number
as the entire population of the US. To
handle filtering of that kind of traffic,
China spent five years designing the
majestically named ‘Golden Shield
Project’. Mere preliminary work on
the system cost roughly a billion dol-
Internet freedom, you take it for granted but should you?
lars. Saudi Arabia has taken a different
approach to the problem, routing all
traffic through a server farm at a uni-
versity, where all requests are filtered
with those relating to blacklisted URLs
immediately blocked. This filtering
is of course a major limitation on the
national internet infrastructure. Saudi
internet providers are among the few
to still offer dialup connections, with
their fastest DSL connections maxing
out at 10 Mbps, costing a whopping 42
pounds per month excluding installa-
tion (makes BT in the UK look posi-
tively cheap).
The political nuances involved in
reducing internet censorship doesn’t
help things either. While the US was
quick to denounce the Chinese at-
tempts to infiltrate Google, with Hilary
Clinton warning of an ‘information
curtain’ that is descending across the
world, it’s surprising that an American
company maintains the blacklist that
allows Saudi Arabia to block all web-
sites “related to drugs, bombs, alcohol,
gambling” and most vaguely, “pages in-
sulting the Islamic religion or the Saudi
laws and regulations”. The close mili-
tary and political relations between the
West and Saudi Arabia also means that
many free speech related human rights
transgressions go virtually unnoticed.
Just three years ago a prominent Saudi
blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, was arrested
and held without charge, seemingly
to set an example to those who might
question the government about policy.
The issue raised very little attention
internationally, with 5 months passing
before he was released without charge
and being told to “tone down” his com-
mentary by the authorities.
Whatever the result of Google’s bat-
tle with China is and whatever Google’s
motivations, it’s obvious that there’s
a deeper issue that’s slowly coming to
the fore in many countries that practice
widespread censorship. The internet
has changed from a luxury to a neces-
sity. Globally, individuals need easy ac-
cess to a good connection, while busi-
nesses require the confidence that they
can move confidential information
across the globe in a secure and quick
manner. Without being able to provide
these assurances, these countries run
the risk of creating a data black hole,
letting the pervasive computing band-
wagon pass by without harnessing it’s
potential for growth and possibly cre-
ating a connected divide.
I
t’s here, the mythical Apple tab-
let, the saviour of the computing
universe the Apple iPad. Wait a
minute, iPad, you having a laugh?
You sure it doesn’t come with ‘flexy
wings’ and should be kept in a woman’s
handbag? OK.
Yep, the Apple iPad, not the iSlate or
iTablet, but iPad. To be honest I’m not
quite sure why Apple didn’t call it the
iPod touch HD or iPod Maxi, because
that’s essentially what it is. A giant iPod
touch. I have to admit, I’m a little dis-
appointed. I would have liked some-
thing more like an OSX touch tablet,
not some iPhone OS running maxi
iPod touch.
Anyway, the proof will be in the play-
ing with it, as to whether it’s any good
or not. Apple’s trying to slide this one
in a space in between the laptop and
the smartphone. I’m not entirely sure
there’s actually a market position in
there for the iPad to fill. It’s not as ca-
pable or cheap as a decent netbook
and it’s not as portable as an iPhone or
Nexus One.
The iPad’s also got a dock connector
and it’ll take accessories like an iPhone
or iPod touch like the dock keyboard.
Great a portable keyboard for the iPad,
I’ve been after one for the iPhone for
ages. Nope, Apple’s Dock Keyboard is
a full size keyboard that sits on your
desk. Yes that’s right next to my com-
puter with it’s own full size keyboard.
Who’s stupid idea was that? I mean
surely if it’s full size and sits on your
desk why the hell wouldn’t you just use
your computer? Novelty value? Now,
if they made a docking a collapsible or
mini physical keyboard now that might
make sense, but no sign of anything
that useful.
It may look pretty and it’s apparently
a pretty slick experience, but where’s
the need for it? Perhaps you could get
it and buy a dumb-phone, forgo the
smartphone experience for the larger
‘smart-tablet’, but I don’t know about
you, if it won’t fit in my pocket it’s not
likely to come with me.
Of course there’s also the bog-com-
puting segment. That one place where
you sit but can’t really have a laptop
on your legs. Bit pricy for me, perhaps
Steve Ballmer might be interested.
There’s also the often lucrative medi-
cal or educational sectors that the iPad
might be useful in. Of course, we fit
squarely in the educational sector so
can you see it in your work flow? Per-
haps as a much more flexible and faster
eBook reader for text books? But then
there’s no multi-tasking so no Spotify
whilst you scan through Molecular
Microbiology of the Cell.
Talking about eBooks, Amazon
should be seriously worried at Ap-
ple’s announcement of the iBooks
store. It was bound to happen with
the release of an Apple tablet device.
iBooks could do for the eBook market
what the iTunes music store did for
music downloads. They’re support-
ing the ePub format which is nice and
they’re making as many distribution
deals as possible. OK, so the iPad may
not be the best reader around as read-
ing from backlit LCD is always much
more tiresome to the eyes than print
or E-ink, but I think the eReader is a
dieing breed. It’s too limited and the
refresh-rate of the E-ink display is far
too low to support any intuitive UI.
In fact I think if OLED screens ever
get into a device like the iPad, reading
from a tablet screen might just be good
enough. I know I’ve been dreaming of
an eReader device that’s good enough
to read journal articles and be able to
scrawl notes on them. It sure would
save paper and be a hell of a lot more
portable than that stack of articles you
need for that literature review you’ve
got to hand in tomorrow.

Weekly Wrap-up: A quick guide to the best of the rest you might have missed
Samuel Technology
Gibbs Editor
You could be forgiven for
thinking that this was an Apple
only week. But the blackhole of
non-Apple related news that is
an ‘Apple Event’ let slip a few
interesting tidbits which I’ve
selected for your enjoyment.
Have you ever thought that
your ordinary everyday RC car
was looking a bit 20th century?
Wondered what would hap-
pen if it was powered by sugar?
Yeah, me neither, but Tomy has
just unveiled the Ene Pocket.
This hideous looking box of a
RC car runs on the Sony Bio
Battery which uses the energy use of sugary drinks. No word
released from sugar break- on when it’ll hit retail but if it
down to generate electricity. takes off we could see a whole
Of course efficiency is entirely host of sugar powered toys.
dependent on More weird tech hit the news
what kind this week including a pair of
of liquid shoes that can Tweet. Obvi-
you feed ously the makes of the Rambler
it. Coke Sneakers have a low opinion of
is good the inane chatter that occurs
but grape on Twitter, creating a pair of
juice is shoes that tweets every time
appar- you take a step. What’s next?
ently the best. A toilet that tweets every time
All you have to do to power you..... Think I’ll pass thanks.
this little eco-racer is top it Ever lost a small pet and
up with soda and watch it fly. thought, I wish I could carry
Don’t expect it to break any my essays and presentations in
speed records, but it’s certainly ‘Hammy’? OK, maybe not, but
an innovative if somewhat odd now with the Taxidermy USB
stick you can put your dead ro-
dents and other
small
pets
to use as
USB drives complete with red
LEDs for eyes. Just remember
to eject before unplugging OK?
This week saw the first real
time tweets from space, as the
ISS got hooked up to the ‘net.
Essentially astronauts on the
ISS can remotely access a com-
puter on the ground from the
station. It’s no broadband bet-
ter than nothing I suppose.
More Google action this
week too, with the roll out of
a feature called ‘Answer High- tallic fighting suit, able to lift
lighting’. Essentially what this enormous weights and possi-
does is identify and extract bly more importantly fire
structured data and puts it enormous guns. Soon,
right in your search results. the weight carrying
Excellent if you want an an- aspect might actually
swer quick, but it could be re- reach reality if Lock-
ally damaging for content web- heed has anything to
sites. Users won’t need to leave do about it. Pack-
Google to find the answers ing a 3-day capable
they’re looking for and so fuel cell the HULC
they won’t bother going to the powered ex-
original site. Rupert Murdock oskeleton helps
has accused Google of ‘steal- soldiers eas-
ing content’ and this move by ily march with
by the search giant certainly 200lb loads.
seems like it. Next up shoul-
Exoskeletons have always der mounted
been the dream of the SciFi autocan-
soldier, to be encased in a me- nons!
 felix FRIDAY 29 JANUARY 2010 3

technology.felix@imperial.ac.uk TECHNOLOGY

Apple’s latest creation named: iPad

Samuel Gibbs takes a look at the mythical device that’s captivated the tech world & will be here in 60 days

I
f you haven’t heard by now Apple
had an event on Wednesday this
week at the Yerba Buena Center
in San Francisco. After all the hype, Key Features
could the much rumoured Apple tablet
possibly deliver?
Apple is aiming the iPad (not the iS-
6/2006
late, iTablet or iPod HD/Maxi) to fit in Google sells its share in Baidu.
between your laptop and smartphone,
a device space that doesn’t necessarily
9.7” IPS display
exist at the moment that is normally 1024-by-768-pixel LED backlit
covered by the netbook or eReader. If
capacitive touch-screen display with
you had your hopes pinned on a fully
fledged tablet computer I’m afraid I’m IPS technology, which helps enhance
going to have to disappoint you, the viewing angles especially for video.
iPad is essentially just a giant iPod
touch. It may have a few fancy fea-
tures like a 9.7 inch screen and an
Apple developed 1GHz processor
named the A4, but essentially it’s the
same capacitive-touch screen experi- 1 GHz processor
ence you are already familiar with.
On-board the device you’ve got Apple’s own 1GHz ‘A4’ processor that
custom versions of the usual apps came from the PA Semi purchase.
you’ve come to expect on Apple iDe- ‘Powerful yet power saving’
vices: iTunes and the iTunes store
including the App Store, Maps, Cal-
endar, Mobile Safari and email, each
looking like a cross between what
you find on a Mac and the iPhone.
The main difference comes when
you explore the greater real-estate
provided by the new screen size.
10 hr battery
The Email app for instance provides 10 hours of continuous playback and
an experience similar to that of a one month of standby quoted (real
desktop with a two-pane view dis-
life battery life remains to be seen).
playing a list and an email preview.
Likewise browsing on the iPad is
like that on the desktop with a fair-
ly standard 1024x768 display.
Something that’s brand new for
the iPad is Apple’s movement into
the eBook market with iBooks. Es- 16, 32 or 64GB
sentially aiming to be the iTunes
music store of books coupled with Flash storage for photos, videos
an eBook reader application on music and apps.
the iPad, the iBooks store allows
you to buy and read ePub books.
I’m not sure what the screen read-
ing experience is going to be like
on that LCD, but Amazon should
definitely be scared.
Text is entered on iPad via a WiFi 802.11n
virtual chiclet-style keyboard
which looks like a cross between WiFi networking for web browsing,
that found on an iPhone and a email, video and iTunes.
MacBook.
The iPad essentially runs
iPhone OS and therefore can
run almost all App Store apps
either at native or 2x resolu-
tion with more iPad specific
apps in the works including an
iPad version of iWork. 3G for data
The iPad will be available
with WiFi only in 60 days from GSM capable 3G modems built-in
$499 and WiFi+3G in 90 days as an optional extra for on the go
from $649. International pricing surfing (great, another contract).
and data contracts are TBA.

Mic Compass Dock connector Speaker Bluetooth

A built-in mic for recording your
grating voice and inflicting it on
others across the world.
The iPad comes packing a compass as
well as an accelerometer just like the
iPhone 3GS.
The iPad sticks with the iPod
style Apple Dock connector for
accessories, charging/syncing and
USB connectivity.
A built-in speaker provides for
impromptu concerts (just don’t
expect great quality). Of course
there’s also a 3.5mm headphones
port for a more personal experience.
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR on board
for streaming audio and headset
connection